


Not a PIEP

by Perkalil



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Hive Mind, Infection AU, Minor Violence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21820588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perkalil/pseuds/Perkalil
Summary: What if the Hive didn't come from space? What if it wasn't tangible?I had this idea in my head and it was fueled by another idea I had in my Creative Writing course
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Not a PIEP

**Author's Note:**

> This might not be as cool as I think it is but idk. Honestly I'm just glad that I finished some writing again. This is un beta-ed, like all my works oops.

Zoey was always on her phone. It wasn’t a big deal or anything, it was just what she did, at work, during class back in high school and a little in college. Gen ed’s are so overrated and if she had the choice, she would have only taken theater classes. It was just something to do, something to occupy her time in between work and rehearsals for the next Starlight original production. So yeah, she was on her phone a lot. Which is why it’s no surprise to her that her phone knows so much about her.

She’d get targeted ads just about every other post on her Instagram feed, her Twitter was heavily filtered to view only content she wanted to see, and her Facebook comment sections had only the nicest of people, showering her posts with positive energy and compliments. Her coworker Emma accused her of living in a “media bubble” and then went on some rant about the Internet and big wigs controlling the way people view news. It got political really fast.

Ok Boomer

Zoey was scrolling through Facebook in the Beanie’s break room, leaving heart reacts on her friends’ latest “10 Day Performance Photo Challenge” when an ad for a Buzzfeed article popped up. She brushed her hair out of her face before reading the title.

“Top Five Playlists to Heal Your Soul and Wreck Your Voice.” She scoffed at the title. “Okay, sure, I’ll bite.” Zoey clicked on the article and waited for it to load, the screen a bright blue/ green. Huh, Buzzfeed usually has a white loading screen, but whatever. The screen finally loaded and the article popped up, full of images and gifs of people singing. Ugh, Buzzfeed needs to stop using Glee gifs, the show’s a joke now.

_ There’s so much music put out into the world every day, how can you know what is your taste and your brand if you have to look through it all yourself? We know how difficult it is to cram music browsing into your already busy schedule, so we’ve combed the Internet for the top five playlists that can satisfy your emotional and vocal needs... _

Sounded interesting enough, she had been looking for new songs to add to her collection.

“What’re you doing back here, Zoey?” The barista in question rolled her eyes. Ugh, Emma. She looked over her phone to see the woman standing impatiently at the entrance to the break room, tapping her foot.

“I’m on break, Emma, I have like seven minutes left.” She went back to her phone, trying to start reading the article. She exited out of a pop up ad as Emma groaned in frustration.

“Seriously? The place is completely swamped and you just get to sit back here while I’m dealing with all these shitty customers?”

“That’s how a break works, Emma, I get a break and you don’t. Go on your break as soon as mine’s up if you need it so bad.” Emma turned around at the sound of the front bell ringing obsessively and Zoey went back to reading the article, scoffing at some of the choice songs on the playlists. All too soon, her break was up and she walked back to the front of the shop, where there were no customers to be found.

“Thanks, the rush is over now.” Emma sounded annoyed, but Zoey was glued to her phone, her eyes reading the same screen over and over. “Hey, earth to Zoey!”

Zoey’s head shot up and Emma staggered backwards in shock. Zoey’s eyes weren’t their usual brown, they were a bright electric blue. Then she blinked and they were back to their normal color.

“What the fuck was that?” Emma held a hand to her chest to stop her racing heart as Zoey gave her a concerned look, something very out of her range of disgusted and/or apathetic expressions.

“What? Is there something wrong?” Her voice was the same, but there was something tugging at the back of Emma’s mind.

“Your eyes, they were bright blue, it was fucking creepy.” Zoey rolled her eyes playfully.

“God, all that coffee you drink must be getting to your head. Didn’t you mention your professor friend told you to lay off our drinks?” Emma paused again in shock. She hadn’t known Zoey actually paid any attention to her ramblings at work.

“Uh, yeah, he did. You’re right, maybe I am just going a little caffeine crazy.” Zoey nodded and went back to scrolling on her phone behind the counter while Emma wiped down their few tables.

“Hey Em, check out this stupid Buzzfeed article. I found it on my break, figured you might find it interesting.” Zoey leaned over the counter and shoved her phone forward as Emma walked past. She was used to this type of behavior from Zoey when it was slow like this, but it usually wasn’t this aggressive. Zoey practically dropped her phone into her hands and Emma had to pocket the rag she was using in her apron in order to catch it. She situated the phone in her hands, god why did Zoey get such a huge phone, and read the article title.

“Top Five Playlists to Heal your Soul and Wreck your Voice?” She looked over at Zoey incredulously. 

“What? I read it, it’s creepily accurate, it got like all of my favorite songs on there.”

“I don’t know if you remember this Zoey, but we are not the same people, I doubt we have the same music taste.” Emma went to set the phone down and Zoey shot around the counter with incredible speed.

“C’mon, just read it, it’s not like you have anything better to do.” Emma took a step back cautiously. Something wasn’t right about this, Zoey was pushing this harder than necessary and Emma felt her stomach churn. She needed to take a breather.

“Uh, okay, give me a minute? I have to use the bathroom, then I’ll read the article.” Before Zoey could protest Emma had set the phone down and was around the counter. She locked the door behind her and pulled out her own phone, bringing up Professor Hidgen’s number. Her phone rang once, twice, almost three times before he picked up, and her leg began to bounce uncontrollably in her anxiety.

“Emma? Is something wrong, you usually don’t call at work.” His voice sounded full of static and far away through the phone and Emma chewed at her thumbnail until he finished talking.

“Professor, have you noticed any of your students acting weird today? Like looking at their phones or reading Buzzfeed?” As she spoke she realized how stupid she must sound asking these things to a college professor, but if anyone would understand this wring feeling she was having it would be him.

“That sounds like a normal lecture period for me, dear. But I suppose a lot of my more attentive students were distracted by technology today. I couldn’t even start my lecture today for my first class. I mean, I’m aware that Intro to Environmental Science can be boring, but these students were actively ignoring me, passing phones between each other to share whatever it was with the class.”

Emma felt that churning in her stomach again and wrapped an arm protectively around her middle, glancing fearfully at the door. “Uh, professor, did any of your students look you in the eye after that class? Did any of them have like, creepy blue eyes?”

“Emma dear, what are you trying to ask me? Is something wrong at work?” Concern colored his tone, and as Emma went to reply a pounding came from the other side of the door. Emma covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her yelp and she moved as far away from the door as she could. “Emma?! Are you okay?”

“I don’t know Professor, but I don’t think that I’m safe.” She whispered, her voice low to try and keep whoever was on the other side from hearing. “It’s my manager, I think something happened when she was on her phone and now she’s not… her, anymore. And her eyes were bright blue and—” The pounding started up again, and this time it sounded like more than one thing was hitting the door. “Professor they’re trying to break the door down, I don’t know what’s happening.” A splintering sound came from the door and Emma watched in terror as the door snapped off its hinges and fell forward. She dropped her phone as she rolled to the side to avoid being flattened.

“Emma? Emma?! Are you there? Emma dear answer me!” Hidgen’s frantic voice became drowned out by screaming, then singing, perfect three part harmonies.

* * *

  
  
  


Deep in the archives of the United States government lies a section of files labeled  _ PIEP Failures: 1835-2020 _ . In these files are the interplanetary and inter dimensional disasters that PIEP has failed to rectify and had to destroy using last-resort methods. In the subsection  _ 2018  _ there is a file labeled  _ Hatchetfield _ . And in this file contains information on what is known to the public as the Hatchetfield Bomber; a tragic tale of a domestic terrorist using broken gas lines to blow the town right off the map. Of course, a cover story for something far worse. PEIP had to go in and eradicate the town on the word of a prominent Biology Professor from the only university in the area. A mass virus that caused a person to lose their control and become infected by a Hive mind, controlling their actions to only singing, dancing, and killing. The virus, unlike anything that had been seen before, was not airborne or found in fluids or food. The Hive had found a far more effective way to reach the entire population within less than twenty four hours, save for the one Professor that advised he be eradicated along with the town in case he too was infected by proxy. This virus was contained online. __

PIEP had finished their job, written the report, and hidden this file away immediately. No one in the agency is to talk about what transpired on the island that once housed a small Michigan community, doing so would result in termination and a memory wipe. This file is found in the section  _ PIEP Failures: 1835-2020  _ for two shameful reasons, one far more detrimental than the other. The first, of course, is due to the complete destruction of the town. Such radical actions as that are not taken lightly. The second, far more terrifying reason, is that PIEP never found a cure to the wireless virus. It is still lurking in our Internet today, waiting to strike the next unsuspecting victim with it’s infection. 

Stay safe out there, you never know what thought will be your last. 

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought? Was I onto something? Am I just hitting a mental wall and this is garbage? Who knows? I don't , you might.


End file.
